The present invention pertains to a toy motorcycle of the type driven by an inertia flywheel which operates through a gear train to drive a pair of auxiliary side wheels extending beyond the opposite sides of the elongated frame of the motorcycle for the dual purpose of cooperating with the front and rear wheel to support the motorcycle against sidewise tilting and also effect driving of the motorcycle while the front and rear wheels merely revolve without driving.
Toy motorcycles having front and rear wheels have been developed heretofore. One of the objectives in the toy motorcycles developed previously has been to provide a gyroscopic mechanism to maintain the motorcycle vertical with respect to a supporting surface while the motorcycle has only a front and rear wheel to support it upon said surface, and one of the wheels being driven by the gyroscopic mechanism. Typical examples of toys of this type are the subject matter of prior U.S. Pat. Nos. Re 30,299 to Greenwood, dated June 10, 1980 and being a re-issue of U.S. Pat. No. 3,650,067. Another such patent is U.S. Pat. No. 2,829,467, to Pagano, dated Apr. 8, 1958.
In view of the fact that the present invention also is interested in developing electric current incident to driving the motorcycle over a supporting surface, prior art pertaining to toys which develop electric current also have been investigated and it is found that, at least in a broad sense, the development of electric current by electric generating means driven by toy vehicles in motion comprise the subject matter of prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,193,223, to D'Andrade, the applicant in the present application, said patent being dated Mar. 18, 1980, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,274,225, to Knauff et al, dated June 23, 1981, these patents respectively pertaining to toy automobiles and at least the second of said patents having a console to develop sound and lighting effects which are transmitted to a toy vehicle when interconnected to the console for purposes of providing light and noise effect in the vehicle.
Still other means for generating electric current in wheeled toys comprise the subject matter of British Pat. No. 708,469, dated May 5, 1954, and entitled "Mechanical Toys Propelled by Inertia-Wheel Motors", and German Pat. No. 880,569, dated June 22, 1953, and pertaining what appears to be a toy automobile.
The present invention comprises an improvement over the toy vehicles and in particular the light generating means of the devices comprising the subject matter of said aforementioned prior patents, details of the invention being set forth below.